�鶹��ý

Western Latter-day Saint missionaries encountered many different traditions, cultures, languages, and religions while proselytizing in the Ottoman Empire. Booth’s journals attest to his astute observations, interest, acceptance, empathy, and at times outright credulity regarding some of these customs that were foreign to him. Similar to an anthropologist, he was keenly interested in the cultural practices of the various groups he observed and lived among, particularly as they pertained to matchmaking, weddings, festivals, funerals, holidays, food, the status of women in Armenian society, and familial and interpersonal relations. The following journal excerpts display Booth’s witty and sometimes opinionated observations of the various new experiences that caught his interest during his many years in the Ottoman and post-Ottoman Middle East.

Staying Warm Turkish Style on New Year's Day [1]

January 1, 1899 (Sunday) [Aleppo]

New Years and Fast day. Once more my heart swells up in gratitude to God for the bounteous gifts of His love and mersey. Early in the morning two men from Aintab called on us. One of them was the owner of the House which the saints are renting there for the Mission. He said Pres Hintze had told him that I was to go to Aintab and stay about 2 months and then up into Armenia somewhere.[2] I had not heard of this and do not know whether it is the case or not. Our meeting was one of fasting testimony, forgiving and confessing our faults and asking forgiveness one of another. During the morning services I assisted Elders Larson and Arminag in the blessing of two children Krekor Demirjian and Ludwig Demirjian. Elder Larson was mouth[3] for the former and I for the latter child.

A very amusing incident occured shortly after supper. We had left the dining room on the first floor and assended a high flight of stairs to the sitting room where we spent the evening. It was dark and one of the boys, Eskander, about 15 years old went down into the Court[4] for something when he imagined he heard a voice in the kitchen and up he came scrambeling and yelling in the most frightful manner. His parents met him at the door but he dropped, completly overcome with fright and it was some time before he could be made to smile at his own folly.

We spent a pleasant evening with them and other company which came in to visit. The Manghal,[5] a small sheet iron pan filled with burning charcoal was insufficient to keep the Parlor at a comfortable temperature and to make up the deficiency a ��ä�Ի�ܰ� was brought into service. This latter article of household comfort consists of a small tin case about 8 x 10 x 6 inches inside of which is placed a little box containing a few coals and the whole thing set on the floor with a quilt thrown over it and as many as can sit around it, put their feet and legs under the cover and thus keep warm while they chat and smoke and drink their tiny cups of hot strong coffee.[6] We of course refused these last named indulgences but were treated to a dish of candy made of honey and squash, seeds also mixed in.

Exploring Religion and Culture in Aintab [7]

April 29, 1899 (Saturday) [Aintab]

We visited the Armenian Church again (see Jan 19) to witness the prepared decorations for the Great Zodok Byram which commences tomorrow and lasts three days.[8] The event is in commemoration of the death and resurrection of the Savior of the world.

In the center of the church was the representation of a sulpuchar richly surrounded by floral wreaths, colored vaces in which were burning tapers, and evergreens in minature vessels and flowers in tiny bouquets making the inviornments of the figurative grave a veritabl garden in the house of worship.

Numerous ornamentations emblematic of some sacred event connected with the great sacrifice also adorned the Church both near the tomb and about the walls of the spaceous enclosure. We also visited the new edifice in course of completion adjacent to the present building in use.

After visiting the Church we took a short walk through the principal port of the City east of our residence. Read Gen 38. & 39. Took supper with Bro Zodok and family after which a meeting of the Priesthood was held wherein the case of three young men was brought up and dealt with. They were all absent but the testimony against them was to the effect that they have conducted themselves unworthily and it was decided to notify them that except they repent and make confession before the church they will be excommunicated, on Sunday May 7.[9]

The mail arrived bring 2 letters from my wife and a note in one of them from Prof O W[10] Andeline of the B.Y.A. Provo The sade news of the deaths of Bro Christian J Beck and S. W. Brown of Alpine reached me and once more my heart went out in sympathy for the grief strocken families Apr Mar. 28 & 31 were the dates respectively.

April 30, 1899 (Sunday) [Aintab]

The Great Zodok Bayram of the Christians began today. It seems it is not a fixed but a movabl holliday.[11] Every body was out in their very best. Style was galore. It is counted almost a shame not to be the possessor of some new article of wear. Bright red crimson colored shoes, & caps (fess)[12] of varied shades of red, with the brilliant robes and pibald girdles gave the very streets an extra air of fashon to dazzle the eye of a poor plain clad foreigner in coat and pantaloons. It was a day of visiting and every host and hostess vied to do their guests most honer for the call. Our peeps into such displays of social entertainment reached not a half a dozzen for we spent the day in various other ways besides. Our two sessions of services were held as usual and supper was taken with Artine Uzoonian.

Eating with Hands for the First Time [13]

May 5, 1899 (Friday) [Aintab]

Our Evsiheba[14] came in and as usual his talk turned to the subject of his fondest desires—something to eat. His lack of modesty & bashfulness is partially balanced by his joval nature but his gluttenous capacity for gormandizing fits him for the distinguished title of Chief of the Epicureans.

To satisfy him for once the money was advanced by Bro M[aycock] and a typical Syrian summer dish was soon brought in from the bakery to fill <both> the order and stomach of this Armenian food consumer. The peculiar bill of fare consisted of soft unleavened cake, cut into small diamond shaped pieces the size of a large spoon and about ¼ of an inch thick, laid in & around the edge of a big metal plate and then covered with an emulsion of clabber and oil into which had been dumped a preperation of meat resembeling unstuffed saucage, and the whole well seasoned with savory spices. One of our neighbors, the evsiheba, and his son, Bro M[aycock], & myself composed the quintett of banquetters at that gorgeous symposium. Not withstanding the liberal supply it was literally an occassion of living from “hand to mouth” for all those burdensome tools of table etiqeitte were supplied by fingers that each one might not fail in his portion. There was little delacacy at the forenoon feast but my Salt Lake companion either from conscientious scruples or through fear of an immediate “raise in food stuffs” took an early, though polite leave, with an avf edersen[15] between his hiccoughs. As for myself I must <say> that I had all that my soul craved of that new alimentary mixture.

An Awkward Response to an Indiscreet Question [16]

May 21, 1899 (Sunday) [Aintab]

During the day we called to see Abooch Hakian in his new home, he having moved a week or so ago from a room in our house. An amusing incident occured in which Pres Maycock was the object of the joke. I will not record the details. He was simply asked a question by the lady of the house and his answer was one of uneasy silence. His lips closed in a bashful smile that resembeled the meekness of a closing morning-glory and his changing features would have done <honor> among the latest collection of kelideascops.[17] At last he became master of the sudden surprise and said that <“to speak of> such things were a shame in America.”

Making "Dainty" Turkish Desserts in Aintab [18]

October 6, 1899 (Friday) [Aintab]

During the past night the wind came up in a sudden gust and I arose and stepped out on the porch to observe the freak [storm] when I found myself stepping in mess of grape juice spread to dry for winter. They call it “bastuk” and prepare it in the following manner. The grapes are place in a larg vat (stone) where they are tramped with the naked feet, the juice escaping through a small hole at the lower end of the vat. After straining it is boiled and a little starch added and stired till it becomes a semi-viscid and then spread on thin cloths to dry. Our evsahebi had made some and spread it on the porch to dry and the wind had rolled it up to the door where I found myself waiding through it with bare feet and most uncomfortable sensations.

October 11, 1899 (Wednesday) [Aintab]

It rained again in the morning. I posted my letters and had a short talk with some Islams as they called me into a shop on my return. Went to Artine Uzoonians where I spent most of the day and evening in watching them make Bastuk, sojuk and tarkana.[19] In making the former I learned a few additional facts (see Fri Oct 6) viz, that while the grapes are being tramped in the vat a small quantity of white earth is mixed with it to aid in clearifying the juice afterward. It is boild once and allowed to stand a few minutes in other vessels when it settles and the clear juice is poured back into the large boiler and after being boiled again the starch is added. The sojuk is prepared the same as the bastuk but instead of spreading it out on cloth to dry it is made up into knotty candles by first threading the “meat” of walnuts on strings 15 or 18 inches long, and leaving the lumps from 1 to 2 inches apart. 10 or 12 strings are tied on to one stick and hang from 3 to 4 inches apart. Two poles are placed on trussels and after dipping the strings (which resemble candle wicks), on which the nuts are strung, into the hot bastuk which adheres to the knotty wicks, the sticks are placed across the poles and in a few minutes the juice is dry enough to take another coat and they are dipped in again and so on for several times until they are as thick as a knotty walking cain. When hundreds of these are placed on the poles to dry it make a pretty sight and the preperation is counted as a delicate desert for winter. Tarkana is made by putting a little cracked wheat into the clearified grape juice and boiled for several hours when a few spices ginger, cinnimon & cloves, are added, and the mushy stuf dipped out and allowed to cool on plates. I also noticed that a few eggs were beaten up with the fingers and made into a froth and put into it. There were about 12 or 14 of us around the fire and dishes etc and in making the dainty deserts most of us literally had a hand in it. Some their feet.

Baking American-Style Biscuits in Aintab [20]

May 7, 1901 (Tuesday) [Aintab]

My companion was not well to day as the vaccination of last week has taken hold and affected him considerable. I had Esther make soda biscuets for breakfast. We had procured the necessary componants before and decided this morning to have a change. We have often heard of Haleb un <(flour)> and of its choice quality and nice white color, so of course that was among the stuffs of which to make the buskits. It would scarcely have passed for more than “shorts” or “midillings” in some countries I have visited but here i[t] was called guzell (fine!). I got a late number of the Young Womans Journal and began to draw information from the cooking department columns of that treasure house of usefulness and as interpreter dictated to Esther how much flour and salt and soda and sour milk to use, and adding according to my own judgment a certain amount of cooked olive oil for shortening. It was the first time Esther had ever kneaded (needed) soda and yogurt to make bread and therefore her suggestions were few in the preparation of those biscuts, but she did her work well and sent them cut up into nice round “buns” to the public oven to have them baked.[21] It cost about 2 ct for this latter process, but O what a long time we waited for breakfast that morning. At last the bisscits came baked to a pretty brown but we fount that the Baker himself was tempted with the novelty of such a batch as that and had taken some to taste them, but the little girl, Aznif, who waited at the furnice for them heard these words from the taster [Turkish language] (Ne padar kutu, butune soda dur.) “How nasty; it is all soda.” But it came next to being the best bread I have eaten in Aintab since my arrival.

A Muslim Burial Service [22]

May 14, 1901 (Tuesday) [Aintab]

We passed the tombs of the Islam graveyard just as another sleeper was being laid in her uncushioned couch among the subterranian stones to rest till the morning Call when the undreaming millions will wake to put on them imortal robes for the bright and endless day of peace.[23]

We paused at the shallow supulcher and witnessed the interment of an aged woman. Eight or ten men had accompanied the corpse to the Cemetary and in less than 3 minutes it was lowered into i[t]s rock hewn cavern. Carried on a flat rude bier which was placed near the grave, the body, wrapped from sole to crown in white linen, was carelessly picked up and laid on the floor of the excavation made roomy at the bottom by the grave sloping under from one side to nearly double its width at the top. It was covered with stone slabs save a small hole left <at the west end> to admit its lonely tenant, which when laid to rest was turned on the right side with a bank of dirt along the back to hold it in position with its face toward Mecca, the city sacred to these mussulman mourners. The last stone was placed over the door and the tomb was ridged with the soil of its own furnishings and water poured along the top, I suppose, to settle the loose dirt earth. The whole ceremony was quickly done & performed amid chattering and smilling and talking and sighing and chanting of lines from the Koran. I asked one of them if they ever placed two bodies in one tomb but the answer came decisively asuring that “With us that custom is not lawful.”[24]

The Great "Water Splashing" Bayram of the Armenians [25]

July 30, 1900 (Monday) [Aintab]

The great “water splashing” Bayram of the Armenians. It has been a custom for ages among these people to keep this day, “Bayram.” Early in the morning our neighbors began the sport of throwing water on each other. Several young men stripped to the skin, excepting towells <hung> about the waist, were drenching each other and women and children who came in their way. I went to the college & spent a few hours with Mr Merril talking on the gosple etc. In the afternoon my self and Bro Page engaged in a water combat with our neighbors and spent nearly two hours in the contest. We & they were soaking wet many times over and enjoyed the sport immensely. Many accounts are given of the origin of this days celebration but they seem to have very little connection with the spirit and practice of the day. Some say it is in honor of the resurrection of Mary the mother of the Savior. Some say it is to celebrate the “Transfiguration on the Mount.” Others connect it with an ancient Armenian Idol named Vartavar on whom water was profusly poured when special prayers were offered to his godship for rain in times of drough[t]. There may be but little good in the custom and yet I see no harm in the innocent and friendly “ducking.”[26]

Armenian Feasts in Zara [27]

September 1, 1901 (Sunday) [Zara]

After the S[unday] S[chool] in the afternoon we were invited to dine at the home of Bro Ghugas (Luke).[28] Our host was an old man, a model type of <poor> Armenian farmers of this district. His posterity was numerous and many of them belong to our church. He led the way from the meeting room to his house about a quarter of a mile over housetops and through door yards and across narrow streets to the house of our entertainer. Five or six other bretheren being invited, (all of them present) accompanied us and we passed through the lower and spacious dark appartement up into a neat little room carpeted and cushioned for company. The meal board was already in the room, a round table about 3 ft. in diameter & not more than 8 inches high. It was covered <around the edge> with long flat soft cakes and the plane utinsels, wooden spoons, large as common dippers, one for each with a puter spoon <each> for the two missionaries. We were soon seated closely around and a large pan of milk thickened with cooked milk was placed in the center of the table. A fervent prayer of thanksgiving and grace was said by one of the guests and we began to eat.

Some objection was raised to the use of such large spoon as two of the men were useing and especially with the way they were filled and the rapid succession in which they were emptied. A few funny stories were told and the time passed, and the wheat porridge passed and the pan was removed. Course no. 2 came on a dish of sweet thickened cream. I related a story of eating “beezlings” in which elder Holdaway participated (see Mar 1, 1900) and the rememberance of it and the similarity of the present dish was too much for him. A dish of fine red ripe tomatoes was next placed on the board with a little coarse salt, a relish indeed for my companion. Then came the dish of the evening, a whole lamb, save head and feet and a few other unnecessary parts, snugly coiled up on a large platter and set before us. Carver No 1 began, rather delicately for our sakes, to piece the lamb up for the hungry guests. Elder H. soon observed his lak of dexterity and said “He doesn’t know how to carve” and taking a old case knife began a seris of cuts in one of the hind quarters. For some reason he gave up before the work was finished and the lamb still lay there waiting the wish of the devourers. Hagop, a strong man both in muscle and stumach, impatient with carvers, placed one hand on a fore arm and in one savage pull tore the whole shoulder from the body and then began riping the meat from the bone and placing the lacerated pieces back on the dish for the rest to eat.

It was the signal for the native guests and they followed in feroceous gestures with hearty laughs and keen appetites and the roast lamb was soon a thing of the past but my delicate companion only looked on and smiled per force. That removed and other dishes, cooked floor in sour clabber, eggs, clabber (or yoghart ) sweetened, and bulghur of which we ate, ever man according to his taste and delicacy. Supper over and a modest young lady appeared with a large metal pitcher of warm water, soap and a waste dish pouring the water on each ones hands as he leaned forward in a kneeling posture to wash the mixture from his soiled fingers.

September 2, 1901 (Monday) [Zara]

The day passed as usual and another invitation for supper was received which we accepted and ate a meal <even> more sumptous than that of last evening. Hagop Ghagusian[29] was our host. He was ordained an elder <in the church> some 4 years ago in Utah, having been there and returned. His wife and 3 children are non members.

Women's Status in Armenian Society [30]

November 5, 1899 (Sunday) [Aintab]

Fast day. Nearly all the Saints were present at Sunday School. We had testimonies and a recital by the children. That morning I again prayed for faith that I might see our sister restored to her wanted health & strength. We held special services at Kocher Uzoonians where the unfortunate sister li[v]es, that she might have the privilege of partaking of the Sacrament. Many testimonies were borne, among those speaking were three sisters Esther Kuretlian, her mother, and Menush Uzoonian. These I think are the first women who have spoken to a mixed congregation in this part of the world for many centuries.

Ate supper at Bro Kochers place. We had bul[g]ure[31] & liver & lungs boild.

December 29, 1901 (Sunday) [Zara]

Spoke from Matt 6. 14 & 15. in morning services. It made a good impression on the saints and after I sat down every baptized member present arose and spoke a few words. It was difficult for some of the children but with a little encouragement they overcame. Kalus[..] and Arminag Kizirian, young boys 9 years old, and some of the girls of my class spoke. Some of the sisters were backward on account of the presence of their fatherinlaw, a custom which I denounced in very strong terms and asked them to break away from it as it savored not of the Gosple.

January 19, 1902 (Sunday) [Zara]

Christmass among the Armenians, but we paid little attention to their celebration. Bro Nishan however gave a discourse on the birth & childhood of the Savior.

I followed him but spoke to the women concerning the care of their little children. My talk was occasioned by the ill clad, or rather carelessly clad infants before me. It was a very cold morning and the snow was deep. One woman nearing our door sliped and fell rolling with the little babe in the cold drift and the poor childs body bare from toe to waist. No stockings, no didy, and its clothes loose as a summers night shirt but sometimes wrapped in a little square heavy quilt that scarcely reaches around its tiny body. Often the mothers sit in meeting with the children playing in the cold floor in such a half clad state, and this is why I gave them a sharp rebuke for their carelessness toward the little innocents.

January 21, 1902 (Tuesday) [Zara]

Cold again. After class I prepared a lesson in Notes for singing in M.I.A. which was held at night. Filoritsa Kizirean gave a lesson from Matt 9 chap. Her father in law was present and she, according to Turkish customs, was backward in speaking before him. Notwithstanding she has been married some fifteen years, with one exception (see Sun 29 of Dec 1901) this was the first time she has spoken in his presence. I am denouncing such slavish customs with all the force of my turkish tongue but it has little weight on these stupid Armenians. The Saints are accepting pretty well and are gradually learning that woman are Gods children and are entitled to some respect. Nishan told me yesterday of some of his sister in laws and relatives having not yet dared to speak out in his presence but I rather rebuked him for not openly declaring that his house was no longer under such a cursed custom. He said when they were newly maried his wife stood on her feet in a corner for 6 hours while the callers were eating and drinking and passing compliments, but no one gave her permission to sit down and <not> to violate a rule of ettiquett(?) was forced to stand till her feet was almost as numb as sticks of wood.

I gave them this parable. Some people went up to the gate of heaven and were asked “Who are you”, “We are Armenians from Turkey” they replied. To the old men and father in laws the door keeper asked, “How many years did this woman and that woman and the other woman hold her tongue to do you honor and reverence down there.” “Ten years”, “20 years” “Untill I died” were the various answers from the proud relatives. “Sisters come in and enjoy your freedom, but you Pharaseeical slave holders go to H - and serve out your “10 years” and “20 years” and “Till you die” terms in H–– where you will learn the worth of kind mother and sister and wife.

January 26, 1902 (Sunday) [Zara]

Preached to the Saints on (customs) and endeavored to show them the foolishness of their longer holding to <some of> the senseless notions which prevail among the Armenian people. Especially did I empsisize <& denounce> the custom of the newly-married women and older ones having to keep silent in the presence of the father-in law and <certain> other relatives. Bro. Nishan arose and said that notwithstanding it is hard to break away from our old customs, this day I vow that in my house and before me no sister need feel bound by these rules but freedom will be given to all. I feel that this day will be the beginning of a new era in the lives of these poor slave women of Zara.

March 13, 1904 (Sunday) [Aleppo]

Postcard of Aleppo clock tower, ca. 1900. Courtesy of James Toronto.

Walked to the big clock[32] in the evening and after our return sat down to study when about 2 oclock ala Turk we heard a great noise of people quarreling and the girls who live below us in this same yard called me to come down. I found that two men partially intoxicated were in the place and were very loud in their talk with our landlady who was even more excited than the men. The talk was in Arabic but I soon learned that one of them was the husband of the married daughter of the landlady. He & his companion had evidiently come to quarrel and I soon ordered them out. Little was the attention they paid to my order so I took hold of one of them and began to assist him to execute my own command. He was persistant and I was more so, and when he arrived at a justifiable state (for me) in his opposition, I surprised him with a sudden fistic concussion in the region of his respiratory organ.[33] Then more opposition and then more of the same concussions, and soon we were out in the yard with a great uproar. The police was called but the two men were not on the site of war when the officar arrived. My littel finger was slightly sprained.

July 9, 1905 (Sunday) [Zara]

We attended the commencement Exercises, in the great Armenian Church, of the Gregorian Schools. The program was interesting and well rendered. At the close, a general invitation was given for any one to speak, and I quickly accepted the opportunity and warmly congratulated all concerned and then gave them a earnest talk on the education of girls and their rights. My speech was sanctioned and endorsed by several others, one the Priest, and to our great surprise, our sister Mariam Der Khachadoorian was called and urged to speak to that peculiar audience of men and boys in the front and best seats with women up in the gallary peeking thru the lattace, or fence work, like so many monkies in a huge cage. It was a wonderful opening and a beam of light flooded into the minds of that benighted congregation and we were full of gratitude to the Lord for such a splended privilege.

December 6, 1908 (Sunday) [Aleppo]

There was a small attendance at the afternoon meeting in our Branch on acct of storm & sickenes. A bad row and quarrel occured between some of the members on acct of oppossion to the Sisters taking so prominant a part in our midst. Artine Chunguzian (& his father especially) have opposed the idea for some time and Artine now raised objection to his sister eating with the elders in a public feast, and found fault with Elder Newman for assisting the sisters in a swing while out in the gardens.

Matchmaking, Childbirth, Child-Rearing, and Childlessness [34]

August 10, 1905 (Thursday) [Zara]

One of the neighbors, an Islam woman recently from Constantinople, called and chatted and offered her services—semi Proffessional, to assist us in the case of our childless condition.[35]

December 13, 1907 (Friday) [Aleppo]

Talked to Krikor and Dudu Orulluian about them making an engagement between their son Joseph (Ovsep) and Myram Bezjian. Also talked to Ovsep and he was agreeable to the match.

December 14, 1907 (Saturday) [Aleppo]

We invited our neighbors to take supper with us in honor of the anniversary of our meeting 9 years ago. They “gave their girl to us” for ours—little Angelic.

June 14, 1908 (Sunday) [Aleppo]

[A] letter from Aintab told of the death of Fereda, sister of Anik Nalbandian, and two other women all who lost their lives through following the pernicious practice of Race Suicide.[36] In the afternoon meeting Hagop Bezjian spoke in Arabic & I followed on Unity that should exist among the Saints. In the evening we called on Exa Kuradjian sister of the woman Fereda who died in Aintab.

October 20, 1922 (Friday) [Aleppo]

At a quarter to 12 Oclock I was called up to visit Sister Eliza K Uzunian who was about to be confined. She was in great distress but the women present and Bro Khoren, her husband, kneeled around the bedside while I prayed for and blessed her for the near event. I repaired to my room and in 25 minutes the glad news rang out. It was now Fri 20 at 10 past 12 a.m., a son was born to Khoren & Elisa Uzunian. There was great rejoicing among the relatives & neighbors and for an hour or two the merriment went on regardless of the delecate condition of Elisa whom we felt the Lord had wonderfully blessed. A peculiar and hearty laugh rang out a few minutes before the child was born and I was told that was to allay fear and give courrage to the mother. They cooked a meal for her but refused to let her eat grapes as that would be injurious according to some old tradition.

August 21, 1924 (Thursday) [Aleppo]

I was surprised and agrivated on going into one of the Khan rooms to learn the cause of a crying of a child and seeing several woman around a little 3 year old child punishing it by cutting its little hand with a razor. On repremanding them for their “savagery” I learned that many others do the same thing to frighten their children into proper culture. I spoke very harshly in the testimony meeting at night.

May 5, 1925 (Tuesday) [Aleppo]

There is some talk to day of arranging a few couples for marriage.[37]

May 13, 1925 (Wednesday) [Aleppo?]

In Relief Society I collected about forty papers from the members giving one or more current traditions among the people on superstition and belief in “Old wives fables etc etc.” It is astonishing what a senseless lot of trash a people will place credence in because “They Say” is so popular among them. I[n] all I collected about 150 sayings, and a few of the Saints are still under the influence of the ignorance of the lore.

Betrothals and Weddings [38]

December 17, 1898 (Saturday) [Aleppo]

Bought a pair of rubbers[39] for 1 Mejedee, read some Utah news and was invited to <take> supper <with> some of the saints—Bros. Madjerian, Vezerian[40] and Garoutch.

Bro. Jeremiah Kratlian was also there and a very amusing incident took place. He had recently decided to get married and had asked some of the brethren to get Elder Larson to go and ask the young lady’s parents if he (Jeremiah) could have the girl. They talked the matter over and discussed the situation with much interest. Whenever there was anything to say to Jeremiah which was to be kept between him and the Native brethren they would speak in Armenian as neither Elder L. nor myself could understand that language. When a point of delicacy was reached <of> which Jeremiah was not to know, the English tongue was used as Bros. Madjerian and Vezerian could speak that, but Jeremiah could not, and then when I was not to be let into the secrets of the affair and the matter became pertenant to all the rest the conversation was carried on in Turkish. It was decided that Bros. L. M. & G. were to make the intersecion in behalf of Jeremiah but the former was afterwards released on account <of> doubts which he entertained as to the successful outcome of the undertaking. I have always heard that “It takes two to make a bargain” but never before saw so many engaged in the simple act of “Popping the question.”[41]

June 30, 1899 (Friday) [Aintab]

During a walk in the “Charsha”[42] we called in a little restaurant with our “Evsiheba”[43] and ate Paklava[44]—sweetened pastry well soaked in fat or “sheep oil.”

Later we called at our school. The teachers and pupils were busy preparing for examinations exercises. They went through with their pieces before us and we assisted them some in their exercises in English. One little boy who was on the program was very loath to recite his piece and went through some very peculiar manauvers while on the floor but we soon discovered the cause of his apparent shyness in the fact that his trousers were falling from their accustomed hangings and the little hero of ridicul was obliged to march through the laughing crowd and make an exit whil he “hoisted the curtains” and tightened the draw string about his waist. His later apperance was more creditable but hardly so impressive as the first.

That evening there was a wedding at the house of a near neighbor and just previous to the ceremony being performed Elder Maycock & I received invitations to be present at the great event. The invitation consisted in the sending of a small apple to each of us, and luckely our Evsiheba was on hand to interprate the meaning of the fruit. We went and were ushured up to the high platform and occupied seats next to the <Armenian> Priests who were to perform the ceremony. “Red light” was used to make the affair more attractive and in a few minutes after our arrival the coupple were brought to the front, a large soft cushion placed on the floor for the two to stand upon and joining their right hands they stood facing each other, perhaps for the first time in all their courtship. The Priests arose and began reading, sometimes one and sometimes both at once, then they would sing and pray and read again, occassionally touching the bride and bridegroom on their heads with a silver cross and going through numerous and unique manouvers for the space of half an hour. During the progress of the occassion the heads of the two young persons were bent forward until their brows touched each other and in that position they stood until the ceremony was complete. Most of this time an other young man stood near holding the bridegroom by the back of the neck, appearantly to keep him in position.

The ceremony being ended a glass of sweet water was passed to the the most distinguished guest and each siped in honor of the evening. The newly married coupple then passed around and saluted the onlookers when the lady retired and left her husband to sit alone amid the crowd who freely commented on the affair. Wine or some sort of a drink was passed but we declined with thanks. Our refusing to drink seemed a rebuke to the old Priest who sat next to me as he called my attention twice to the fact that “They drank wine at the marriage feast in the presence of Christ” in the long distant past. Music and noise were the main features of the program and we, without wishing to become “wearysome” withdrew at an early hour to enjoy the comments which we dared not make before the curious crowde of spectators.

September 15, 1899 (Friday) [Aintab]

As I sat alone in my room reading soon after dark, Hagop Bezjian and another young man, his relative, came in and talked a few minutes when two more men, strangers to me, called and asked me to accompany them to a neighboring house to perform a marriage ceremony for a young cupple couple. I declined, thanking them, and telling them that I did not know the turkish customs, neither the language sufficiently to perform such a ceremony. They all left and about 9 oclock returned with a letter from one of the “Budvillies”[45] all of which I could not understand but it stated that he had no objections. (The <young> man belonged to his church <Protestant> and the lady to the Armenian Church.)

Ouzounian family pioneer rug. Courtesy of Church History Library.

Artine Uzoonian and Avedis Kulluksuzian were with the crowd and we left for the scene of the great nuptial. The gentleman was a poor man who worked at “Dy[e]ing”. He had no relatives and the reception was held in the house of a friend. It was a room about 13 x 18 ft and into that were crowded a host of on lookers (I counted 72 inside) while all about the front yard were dozzens more of uninvited guests. The lady was well dressed but not of a dazzeling style by any means. A <pink> veil was thrown over the head and face so the features could not be seen. Her parents were not present, such a thing would be a shame in Aintab, I was told, and the poor girl was there with not a near relative in the house. We waited a few minutes till a hymn book was brought in when a hymn was sung and Artine offered Prayer. He then read from Ephesians 5: 21-33. The couple stood facing each other and arising clasped each others right hand. Artine & I stood by them and he asked a few questions as to their willingness to accept the obligations about to be placed them etc and they each answered with either saying evvet[46] or shaking nodding the head which was taken as an affirmative reply.

I then said, “Minasian Ghazar, ve Rahel Bedikian (names) Benim Allah tarafundun selaheyetim alarak Allahen huzurunda ve bu jemiet huzurunda sizi nikyah ederim, ve Allah <sizi> Berekle sin amin.”[47] Artine made a few remarks and we congratulated the happy couple, talked a few minutes, the lady was taken from the room into more private quarters and man remained to entertain the crowd of poorly clad guests. No eatabls were to be seen, nothing to drink, not even sweetned water nor sherbet, and we withdrew leaving the assembled host to make the most of the occasion.

This is the first marriage ceremony I have ever performed. My charge was nothing but I trust it will result in good for the labor in which I am engaged.[48]

February 6, 1905 (Monday) [Aintab]

Reba & I, on invitation, attended a wedding of Aboojan Daghlian, a brother to Zadiks wife, and a lady from the eastern part of town. We went to the home of the <bride> groom about 9 a.m. Ala Franka when a crowd assembled and soon we were marching at a funeral pace to the bride’s residence near the seray (gov building). It was the home of a merchant and the evedience of poverty was absent though nothing more than ordinary ease in circumstances could be detected by the surroundings. About 75 men, women & children crowded into a room on the lower floor where selams[49] and welcomes and appropriate replies were profusly indulged in between hosts and guests, while <cigarettes were smoked> coffee and rackie (grape alchohol) were drank by all who wished the draughts. Promiscous chat and chattering amid frequent benidictions and toasts and well wishes occupied the time for nearly an hour when the bride was brought down from an upper room really and beautifully adorned for her husband. She was in stature short and in features sweet and delicate and modest. There was a fearful conflict in the girls soul, where the love of mother was warring with the claim of her devotion from a future companion, for hot tears poured in quick succession amid the roars of her weeping (it is considered immodest and forwardness to surrender and evacuate the parental home without such visible signes of sorrow) and many were the friends about her kindly bidding her “Dont Cry” “Dont cry.” She was covered from head to foot in a black azar,[50] neatly drawn around the waist, and a white thin veil beneath hung over the head and face. With a lady escort clinging to her arm and some before and some bringing up the rear, the young bride was taken to the church—Armenian—with even slower steps than we had marched to get her. The great cold church with only carpets for seats, and bare grey walls whose monotony was broken only by a few doors, and the decorated <candle covered> shelves before which the priests were officiating under gorgously colored robes offered to the beholder a sight peculiar to the East alone.

Soon after our arrival at the church the bride groom put in his appearance (he did not go with us) plainly dressed and having a light shawl of white and gold pinned around the neck and shoulders. Now for the first time since their betrothal and perhaps the second time in their lives the two stood, befor the alter, facing each other. One of our little mormon boys, a relative of the young man, stood on a chair and held a silver disc so as to touch the temples of the contracting parties who now stood leaning forward that their brows might rest the one against the other. Another couple stood there also and two priests officiated besides a third one who lead in the ceremony. The scriptures and ceremonies were read in a drolling sing song style and questions were asked if they would honor and obey and cherish each other in all conditions of life ect, and with a prayer and a blessing from the long bearded priest the “marriage rites were over” and we marched again in unmilitary style to the place of beginning.

The men were seated in one room and the women guest[s] and the bride in another and seperated almost like the positions of the rich man and Lazarus “so that they who would pass from hence to you cannot.” From what followed I will leave the reader to judge in which appartment I was thrust—the rich mans or Lazurus’. Which ever mine was, my wife’s was the other, and if you heard her story of what she experienced you would at once conclude that neither one of us were enjoying the “benifits of the poor man.” Our room was about 12 x 20 ft. and was soon filled with guests seated on the floor like “sardines in a box.” In one end of the room sat the young bridegroom, surly and quiet and solomn. I was next to him taking silent notes. In the opposite end sat the “band” “making music all the day.” A backwoods fiddler from Arkansas, a banjo picker from old Mexico, a tambourinist from Tenessee and a yelling shepard from Wyoming with one nights rehearsal would at least be able to “hold a candle” to this famous orchestry of ours. Cigaretts were pass and not more than three or fore refused a smoke. The windows were closed and the air soon becam thick but I waited to see what would happen so I made no suggestions. At frequent intervals new guests would come into the already crowded room, and the newly married man, out of respect for his company, would arise and remain standing untill all were seated and untill he received permission from some <influential> one or from the new commer to be seated. Often guests came so thik and fast that the order is forgotten and the poor fellow (as well as the girl in her room and both if they are together) have to stand for hours waiting permission to sit. Coffee and rackie were passed and soon the latter becam a general beverage, the smoke continued with increasing fumes, and so went the time for an hour.

I asked for a drink of water (remember the rich man & Lazarus) and a shuffle and bussle were made to have some brought from the well. Time passed on, the Armenian priest came and all arose and bowed with a sort of hilarious reverance, artistically waving the hand in upward curves from belt to brow—the usual manner of salutation here—and uttering words of welcome to his holiness. The priest in his long black gown politely recognized our defference to him and then coming directly, shook hands with me, took his seat by my side. We passed compliments and salutations with each other and chatted on topics akin to the occassion for a few moments when he ordered the windows opened for a breath of fresh air. “It is better to have them open,” said he, “while there is so much smok in the room.” And with the same breath there exuded from his mouth a fulsom volume of the white fumes of his cigarett. “How are <you 2,> and what are you doing?” he again asked; for a half dozzen times is not an excessive number to inquire of ones health etc in such a merry making time. “I am well” and “Just watching the proceedings before me” I answered in reply to both questions. “I have been here about an hour and saw the need of opening the windows some time ago but out of curiosity I concluded to see to what extreem they would go, and so I endured it till now and thank you for your quick perception of the situation,” I replied with a air of praise for the aged priest. It put him into a delicate position for he could see that he <was> being extoled at the expense of his flock, and he was glad to turn and pronounce a benediction on one who offered to drink to his health a mug of liquor in Ala Frank style.

During a cessation of hostilities upon our ears by the “band,” some curious fellow guest would query me for hints about the wedding customs of <far off> America, but I answered short, exceedingly short, for fear my hints would break into the order of the day and crowd some feature of their local proceedings from the program which I wished to see and note in full. Of course I had refused to join them in their drinks and smokes and even had refrained from giving or recognising tostes. While the liquor was beeing passed and drinking freely indulged in, one of the guests sitting directly in front of the priests asked him if it is really a sin to drink a little on festive occassions. “If you do not go beyond measure there is no harm in it,” said the spiritual leader.

Till now I had but once given trouble to the “governor of the feast” and that exception was when I asked for a little water for my parched tongue. Forty five minutes after that I took out my watch and when the second hand came exactly on “60” I said, “Effendim bana ber az racki vermek istermisen?” (“Will you please give me some rackie?”) Amid the din of the merry crowd there fell an awful stillness and all eyes turned to me in astonishment. In just 10 seconds by the watch the mug of liquor was in my hand and as I arose to give the toast the silence was intense. With the intoxicating draught in my right hand and the priest who had just given his authoritative sanction for a limited indulgance in the same sitting at my left, I broke the silence by saying, “Before I drink this rackie, I wish to say a few words to this assembly. This is the first time I ever saw water counted dearer than liquor. Three quarters of an hour ago I asked for a drink of water but it has not reached m[e] yet. I now asked for rackie and in 10 seconds it was placed in my hands.” There was a mingled feeling of surprise and chigrin amid rustelling and bustling and smiles and laughter and frowns and apologies. Continuing I said, “The customs of our country are very different from those of yours in many respects, and not wishing to oppose you nor break into you[r] habits, I only ask permission to make a comparason and let you decide which is the better. Your Priest has been asked by the gentleman here if it is a sin to drink a little rackie. Did you note his answer? He gave you some very good advice and I heartily concur in the same. He said that if it does not go beyond measure there is no harm <in> it. That is true my friends but the question is concerning the measure. What is the measure? It is the door of the saloon, and if this rackie had not been brought beyond that, there would have been no harm in it. But when you bring <the drink> past that place, when it passes the door of this room and passes the measure of your lips, it is doing harm. I am pleased with some things I have seen here to day and with some of the customs of this country. I have had my eyes open and have watched this crowd with interest. The fiddler there has talent but he ought to learn better tunes. The singer has a good voice but he should use it in singing sacred strains instead of vulgar songs. Your greetings are commendable and your tostes to health are accompanied with some degree of sense. In America we have a custome which I think is <perhaps> the most senseless of all customs of the world. For example I am going to drink this water (I had returned the rackie and took the water when it came) and before I do so I say to this audience, ‘I drink this to your health,’ and then while you are getting the benifit of my toast I am drinking the water. Has it benefited you any or added to you health for me to drink the water myself? Do you see the foolishness of the custom? But I admire your way of “toasting.” You have a sensable way and one in which there can be a benifit to the one you wish it to come. After I have drunk this glass of water you each one say to me “May it be healthful to you” and it may be to me for it has gone into my stomach and cannot be healthful to you no matter how much I may wish you health from it. But there is another side of this toast which I must show you. When you drink this liquor I cannot join with you in saying “Af ’ayet alsun” (May it be healthful) for if I did I should be a hypocrit. God has said, and I know it, that such drink as that will not be healthful, and I cannot consistantly wish you health in doing that which is contrary to the command of God. When you drink water I can join you in your toasts. The greatest harm in drinking and smoking here will perhaps not result to day, but you are setting an evil example before the little boys who may from this occassion learn to become drunkards. Our friend the Priest here knows well that in the days of Ancient Israel the first born of the sons was far more favored than others i[n] spiritual and temporal matters. Do you think God designed that the first born should be conceived while his parents were under the influence of this drink in order to fit him for his favored position among the children of his fathers family? Or was it not designed that the wedding should be an occassion of spiritual rejoicing that the result of the event might reach its blessed influence through the first born even to the very youngest of the family for whom he is to be the pattern and example. Just one more point: In America we honor the bride and bri[d]egroom by making them comfortable and doing them service at their bidding. Here you have reversed it and make them the servants who have to stand some times for hours till one of the guests grant them permission to be seated. You exhibit great love for each other; I love you all too but I can not join you in doing wrong.”

Some nodded their sanction to my speach, some sought to paliate their present doings, and the priest made a long excuse for not breaking suddenly away from the established customs but said the church was making endeavors to bring reforms among they people at the marriage feasts. The band played, rackie ran freely and cigaretts were burned like torches at a rally, time passed on, a dish of rice and meat covered with a folded cake of unleavened bread was passed to each one for supper, hilarity increased, singing rose to yells, the hip and arm dance began, and the clapping of hands to keep time with the general medley was indulged in. Amid this wild confussion, just as the clock reached within one minute of 12 (sunset), there was a sudden jostling and jerking as if the throttle valve of a hundred tons engine had been reversed to prevent a collission and in that one minute all was over. The crowd dispersed as quietly as if leaving a cemetary. The secret of this sudden dispersion was that a forfeit[51] had been deposited by the bride groom with the church to keep the rules, one of which was to close at “12” oclock.

Melva Hindoian Emrazian’s tree of life stitchery. Courtesy of the Emrazian family.

May 26, 1925 (Tuesday) [Aleppo]

We had a few post card - photographs taken of the needle workers[52] and of some of the work. Paid a lira to Moses Hindoian for services in carrying water, errands, etc etc, and it came in appropriate time as they are thinking of giving their daughter Rebecca to Joseph Bezjian and need some money for the engagement.[53]

May 28, 1925 (Thursday) [Aleppo]

After dark many of the saints and the relatives of Hagop Bezjians and Moses Hindoians assembled at the Mission Headquarters where we held an out door betrothal service at which a young couple, Joseph Bezjian, Hagops son, and Rebekkah Hindoian, daughter of Moses, were engaged according to these oriental customs. After a few hours waiting for some of the relatives and the time spent in singing, advice & story telling with chit chat among the guests, the bashful pair were escorted to seats in a prominent place in the court. They sat looking wide apart from each other without a smile, and after a preliminary talk and advice and admonition on customes etc. I handed each a gold ring, prepared for the occassion as a present from one to the other and the young man placed his on the finger of his fiance and she in turn placed her ring on his as a sign and token of their engagement. They are no[w] said to be “Nishanli Oldular”.[54] Several hours more were spent in music and dancing and singing, a relative, cousin of Joseph, was the leading musician being a talanted violinest. This is the anniversary of our wedding 35 years ago and the coincident is that of officiating at a betrothal of another Joseph & Rebecca.

May 29, 1925 (Friday) [Aleppo]

We were all tired from our sleepless night of revelry. I went to the Consulate and read the news, learned more of the Auto accident near Beyrouth at which the members of a Commission on Malaria from the League of Nations had disaster—three killed and three wounded sevierly.

Preperations were in progress to day for another engagement service—this time a double one. The two sisters, Elisa and Armenuhe, and their fiances (see 6^th) were to night officially and formally betrothed to their respective companions, Hagop Aseian and Hovhannes Kulaksuzian. There were about 225 guests, and I was anxious to have the affair a little dignified and orderly but when I suggested a slight change in their time old customs and have the three couples (Joseph & Rebecca were to accompany them) walk to the seats specially prepared for them, side by side, there arose such a storm of protest that I ceased to further interfere with the proceedings except to coldly engage them. I was disgusted with the ignorance and heathenish actions of our own people after all there years of experience in the gospel. The three young couples, with slight exceptions, were worthy of commendation but the relatives were so persistant in their opposition to reform in their customs that I left them about three a.m. and they continued till daylight with a howl and yell more like savages of the lamanites of darkness than like Saints of the Latter Day.[55]

Homesickness, Patriotism, and biased Comparisons [56]

January 6, 1899 (Friday) [Aintab]

Five months ago this morning, away on the other <side> of the great globe, in the Land of Promise in which the Lord has long since chosen to set his name there, where temples rear their sacred spires amidst those everlasting hill, where bannars wave in freedom’s purest air and children sing “My Country Tis of Thee”. Where mountain streams gush clear from springs, and fields of grain bow gently in the passing wind, where roses bloom and dew-drops kiss the buds of spring, where sun shine warms the sego and the rains refresh the trees, where birds sing morning anthems in sweet concord with all nature’s chimes, where hearts of friends to hearts of friends are fastened fast by friendship’s strongest ties where holy bonds of tender, yet eternal cords of love link soul to soul in sweetest union of the home, where all on earth that’s dearest dwells, ay there amidst a flood of tears, one parting kiss, one last carress and one sweet sad “Farewell” was said.

And now as I turn my heart back to that tear drawing day I still feel the sad sweet sorrow of parting.

O Father take care of the Dear ones at home
Make my absence a cause of their kneeling to Thee
Thy pitying ear wilt thou bend, while I roam,
To my prayers for them, and their pleading for me.
Keep them, graceous Father from sickness and pain
Their footsteps direct in virtue and truth
In their hearts and their homes may thy spirit remain
And none be forsaken, neither aged nor youth.
Preserve them O Lord, is my hearts great desire,
In the Faith, so that they in Thy presence again
May be saved and exalted, the glory and power
Shall ever be Thin[e] through Jesus, Amen.

February 22, 1899 (Wednesday) [Aintab]

Wrote letters to Dr. E. W. Witten, Haifa, Hercegli Omer Effendi,[57] Constantinople, Dr Arminage, Haleb, N. S. Kludjiam Alexandretta, Jessie Hunter, and the Primary Association Alpine. Did not mail the last two. We went to Bro. Nersis to settle some difficulty between him and his former employer to whom he is owing a debt. It is the rule in this country that where a man is owing his employer he must pay the debt before he can leave and work for another person. In order to begin our little weaving industry we were obliged to pay the debts of several of the workmen before we could get them to come to our employ.

The present date reminds me that a few thoughts of tribute are due to my glorious native Land. The more I see of this government in which I am now residing, the more I love my own by contrast. The day has been a beautiful one, clear and bright though moderaley cool. and to night is like a cloudless moon-lit night of mid April and the stars shine out is if peeping through a Utah sky. But all these attractions of earth and air and sky fail to turn my heart from a loving rememberance of that far away Land of the free and Home of the Brave. God bless my native Land. Very interesting tidbit of knowledge . . . Law or custom?

July 3, 1899 (Monday) [Aintab]

[Written in the left margin] In the evening I baptized and confirmed two young men.

During the day I took a piece of white bleach, some red and blue dye and remembering that tomorrow is my country’s Birthday, I made the dear old “Stars and Stripes” and put a doubble sized star for my native State.

July 4, 1899 (Tuesday) [Aintab]

“Thank God for Liberty”

“Three cheers for the red white and blue.”

In the early morning hours while the birds were chiming their sweet carrols in praise of their freedom and while the glorious sunlight was bursting in beautiful effulganc from far beyond old Babylons walls and while all nature seemed to smile in peaceful silence from the very depths of the universe, here in old Syria, the land of intolerant despotism where the foes of freedom flurish on the bondage of their serfs, where Independence is as strange a thing as gospel light in Satan’s courts even here amid these uninviting scenes with no other fellow countryman to joine me in a shout of patriotic praise for the land I love so far beyond the seas, my own made flag was then and there unfurled in rightful honor of “The Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave”

All day “Old Glory” floated proudly o’er the entrence to my room and many a caller looked with admiration as that wind-kissed banner waved above their heads. More than one “fess” went up from a Turkish subjects head to do honor to another Nations Flag and no man even gazed, I think, upon those wide famed Stars and stripes who did not long to be beneath its heaven sustained protection. I read the “Declaration of Independence” but made no great attempt at public celebration.

October 14, 1899 (Saturday) [Aintab]

The sun came out warm again and the neighbors and Sarkis took their Bastuk from the rooms and cleaned up the floors again. In the after noon one of the Brethren bought so[me] potatoes for me and I cooked a meal for supper. These are first I have eaten since coming to Aintab. It seemed I was nearer home than I have been for many months. Potatoes are scarce here.

October 25, 1899 (Wednesday) [Aintab]

After my class I went to see Sister Dudu Bezjian who was ill. Called again in the evening and administered to her. That morning after posting my letters I took a walk out through the fields. It was realy home like. The cool October morning air, the damp grass, the frost bitten cornleaves and the odor from the silken ears with this bright clear blue syrian sky all joined to call up memories of my boyhood days in the fileds [fields] of far off Zion. Called and spent the evening at the home of our sister Dudu Kalishian.

December 23, 1899 (Saturday) [Aintab]

Artine Uzoonian brought me word that a daughter was born to him early this morning. Wrote letters to the following. Dr J. E. Talmage, my wife, and Miss Detta Caffrey, a former school mate. In the evening I visited and took supper (by special invitation), with Bro Artine. His wife was sitting up eating when I arrived, she laughed and talked as jov[i]ally as though nothing more than a triffling little incident happened. The child though scarcely more than 12 hours old was lying on the floor almost unnoticed but still very comfortably wrapped. It was really a marvel of plumpness and health and while I was there one & a half hours it cried less than 5 minutes I think and was laying wide awake with large bright open eyes as if it had been a month old.[58] The room was not warm but once the little thing was picked up and passed around for exhibition without that tender regard which Utah mothers show their infants but still every thing seemed to warrent such actions as being all right. For curiosity I enquired <what> the expence of such a present from the unseen world might be and told in Turkish “Belki Altmish kurush. Ebe bes takraban yaram mejidie.”[59] The very favorable condition of both mother and child I attribute to hygienic living.

Notes

[1] Excerpt in this section comes from Booth Journals, vol. 6.

[2] When Booth says “Armenia” he means the mountainous region in central and eastern Anatolia, where large numbers of Armenians were concentrated. The historical Armenian homeland is typically regarded as the highlands located between the Caspian, Black, and Mediterranean Seas. “The rugged Armenian homeland produced a civilization strongly marked by its environment. Although the Ararat Plain and certain other areas are fertile, the growing season is short and adequate rainfall uncertain. Mountain-dwellers, in particular, had to come to terms with stony soil and long, severe winters. Moreover, individual communities frequently were so isolated from each other by geographical features that contacts with other villages were rare. From such conditions evolved a conservative farming and stock-breeding culture, characterized by self-reliance, a strongly patriarchal social organization, and a tenacious clinging to family and community ties in the face of hostile natural forces and human adversaries. It seems somehow typical of the Armenians that their country was the first to adopt Christianity as a state religion at the end of the third century, and that within the next one hundred years they had rejected external authority and made their church autonomous.” Villa and Matossian, Armenian Village Life, 12–13.

[3] Mouth here refers to the person pronouncing the blessing, as in “mouthpiece of God.”

[4] Traditional Middle Eastern domestic architecture often features a courtyard in the center of the dwelling space.

[5] The mangal is a brazier used for cooking purposes.

[6] The tandir is a “heating arrangement (consisting of a brazier put under a table with a covering over the table and the legs of those sitting around it)” New Redhouse Turkish-English Dictionary, 1094.

[7] Excerpt in this section comes from Booth Journals, vol. 7.

[8] Booth is referring to the holiday (bayram in Turkish) of Easter. Zadig can mean either “feast” or “Easter” in Armenian. In the Armenian Church there are five major church holy days: Christmas, Soorp Dznoont; Easter, Zadig; Exultation of the Cross, Khachverats; the Transfiguration, Baydzaragerbootiun; and the Assumption of Saint Mary, Soorp Asdvadsadzeen.

[9] The basic Church principles and guidelines for administering disciplinary action, including excommunication of members, are outlined in the Church’s foundational scriptures. The organizational process for implementing these principles, however, has evolved over time to become more formal and standardized than during Booth’s tenure as a mission leader. On excommunication in the Church, see Whittaker and Garr, Firm Foundation, 46–47 and 92–93.

[10] That is, O. W. for Olaf Wilhelm.

[11] Easter is a movable holiday among both Western and Eastern churches. The different date for Easter among Armenians is due to their adherence to the Julian calendar, like other Eastern churches, which made them around twelve or thirteen days behind the Gregorian calendar. (This would change around 1923 when Armenians adopted a calendar more in line with the Gregorian. Booth notes on January 6, 1928, that the Armenians had changed the date of Christmas “a few years ago” from the nineteenth to the sixth in order “to be in Harmony with some others.”) Eastern churches at this time calculated Easter in accordance with the Council of Nicaea just as churches under the Gregorian calendar (the first Sunday after the fourteenth day after the first new moon after March 6), but they counted from their March 6 (our March 19), and their new moon differed from the one seen in the West.

[12] The fes or fez (tarbush in Arabic) was the common headwear for Ottoman inhabitants of Aintab. Adopted in the nineteenth century by Ottoman statesmen, the fez represented a culturally authentic symbol of reform and progress instead of the traditional turban, inasmuch as its brimless form still allowed for prayerful supplication during Muslim ritual prayer, unlike the popular European bowler or top hat. It then quickly became popularized throughout the empire. “The head-wear was the red fez with a black tassel. The way the fez was worn on the head was more or less indicative of the character or position of the person. Most serious people, such as professors, pastors, or those converted from a worldly life into a spiritual life, wore it straight in front, continuous with the forehead. Those who wanted to be coquettish wore it to one side and forward, the tassel hanging in front. Most students wore it on the crown of their heads, a little of the hair or a bang or frill (kenkil) showing in front, while the kabadayi, the real worldly class, wore it right at the back, the tassel dangling in the air.” Sarafian, Briefer History of Aintab, 185–86.

[13] Excerpt in this section comes from Booth Journals, vol. 7.

[14] Turkish meaning “landlord.”

[15] The Turkish term afedersiniz means “Pardon me” or “I’m sorry.”

[16] Excerpt in this section comes from Booth Journals, vol. 7.

[17] Booth is referring to the ability of kaleidoscope images to change shapes and colors.

[18] Excerpts in this section come from Booth Journals, vol. 8.

[19] These are some of the common sweets of Aintab. Bastik is a fruit leather made from grape juice and starch; sujuk is a confection made of grape juice boiled and dried on strings of nuts. Sarafian describes the Armenian fondness for making sweets in Briefer History of Aintab, 199–201.

[20] Excerpt in the section come from Booth Journals, vol. 10.

[21] Public ovens and bakeries were common in the Ottoman Empire for the baking of bread and pastries prepared at home.

[22] Excerpt in this section comes from Booth Journals, vol. 10.

[23] Booth is alluding to the promised resurrection in Christian theology.

[24] Booth was asking the Muslims this question to see if their practice was the same as that of the Armenian Christians, who sometimes, perhaps because of poverty, buried more than one body in a family grave.

[25] Excerpt in this section comes from Booth Journals, vol. 9. Bayram in Turkish means “religious festival” or “holiday.”

[26] The holiday of Vartavar, also called “Transfiguration,” is really two holidays in one. It has its roots in a pre-Christian holiday in which Armenians sprinkled water on each other in memory of the goddess Asdgig, but after Armenia’s introduction to Christianity, it was changed to a commemoration of the transfiguration of Jesus Christ. In popular practice the holiday was more often celebrated with water sports. Sarafian, Briefer History of Aintab, 210; and Villa and Matossian, Armenian Village Life, 141–42.

[27] Excerpts in the section come from Booth Journals, vol. 10.

[28] The story of the conversion of Luke Ghuga is given in Barrett and Van Dyke, Holy Lands, 165–66.

[29] Hagop Thomas Gagosian (1868–1952), baptized by Nishan K. Sherinian in 1894, traveled to Salt Lake City in 1897 to see the Utah Zion and living prophets with his own eyes, but Church leaders there asked him to return with Hintze and Lund to help them find land to colonize the Latter-day Saints in the Ottoman Empire. His family later emigrated to Utah and moved to St. George, where lived Nimzar, one of his daughters who had married missionary John T. Woodbury. Zeidner, “From Babylon to Babylon,” 405–7; and Kelsey, “Diary of Hagop Thomas (Tumas) Gagosian.”

[30] Excerpts in the section come from Booth Journals, vols. 7, 10, 11, 12, 13, and 15.

[31] Bulgur is cooked cracked whole wheat. Sarafian writes that bulgur “constituted the staple food for Aintab people.” Briefer History of Aintab, 196.

[32] The great clock of Aleppo still exists as an important local landmark and is located in a public square called Bab al-Faraj (Gate of Deliverance) north of the old city. See fig. 17.

[33] That is, during the fracas Booth punched the man in the nose.

[34] Excerpts in this section come from Booth Journals, vols. 13, 14, 16, and 17.

[35] Joseph and Reba Booth were unable to have children because of infertility issues.

[36] “The alarmist term ‘race suicide’ was coined by the popular and distinguished U.S. sociologist Edward A. Ross at the turn of the 20th century. The concept was in-principle a general one. When the birth rate within a so-called race dropped below the death rate, ‘race suicide’ was thought to be occurring, with the ultimate consequence that the ‘race’ would die out. In practice, however, the concept was deployed to raise fears amongst members of dominant ‘races’ about their declining numbers and the influx of foreigners. Ross, for instance, believed that ‘old stock Americans’ were committing race suicide, to be replaced by more fertile immigrant ‘races.’ . . . The concept of ‘race suicide’ is now rejected by sociologists and other scholars because of its racism, its anti-feminism, its connection to the eugenic movement, and its use of the controversial category of ‘race.’ Additionally, the term was used as a way to shame women who wanted to limit the size of their families and have control over their own reproductive system” (Hochman, “Race Suicide”). It appears here that Booth is utilizing this concept to criticize these Armenian women (who apparently decided that they did not want to be mothers or that they wanted to have control over the number of children they birthed) by accusing them of intentionally committing suicide of the Armenian race. This is ironic considering Booth’s criticism of general Armenian patriarchal oppression of women and his advocacy for their education, but is congruent with Latter-day Saint teachings on the primary role of women as wives and mothers.

[37] Arranged marriages were common practice among all inhabitants of the Ottoman Empire regardless of ethnicity or religion.

[38] Excerpts in this section come from Booth Journals, vols. 6, 7, and 17.

[39] “Rubbers” are low overshoes made of rubber.

[40] George Vezerian had previously been the presiding elder in Aleppo but was excommunicated for stealing tithing funds of the branch. He and his friend George Nazarian were then rebaptized in Jerusalem by Lund and Hintze (see Barrrett and Van Dyke, Holy Lands, 72, 94, 103, 129–30, 135). George Vezerian and George Nazarian were planning to leave Aleppo in order to study medicine at Beirut, but they eventually went on to Utah (see Booth Journals, vol. 7, January 29, 1899).

[41] “The Armenian wedding was a profoundly important social event, an alliance not just between individuals but also between groups. As the family saw it, the bride would be not be just the groom’s bride but their bride. All members of the bride’s and groom’s families became in-laws (khnamee). A marriage, therefore, sent ripples through clans and communities, and engagements could not be undertaken lightly. Indeed, the prospective bride and groom often had little to say in the matter.” Villa and Matossian, Armenian Village Life, 72. See Sarafian, Briefer History of Aintab, 201–7.

[42] Bazaar, or large marketplace.

[43] Landlord, owner of their rented home.

[44] Baklava, a flaky baked pastry famous throughout Turkey, Greece, the Arab Middle East and North Africa, made with phyllo dough, butter, honey, and a variety of nuts (usually walnuts and pistachios).

[45] Budvillies or Badveli means “honorable” in Armenian and can be used to refer to general clergy, including preachers.

[46]Evet means “yes” in Turkish.

[47] Translation: “Having been commissioned by God, in his presence and in the presence of the congregation, I marry you. May God bless you, amen.”

[48] On the surface this seems like a highly unusual marriage between two people from different Christian sects married by someone of a third sect (Booth); however, this was probably not that uncommon among the very poor in Ottoman society. Marriage recognized by the Ottoman state and by its millets could be quite expensive since in “respectable” society a matchmaker was hired, a dowry needed to be provided, and a clergyman needed to be paid to perform the ceremony, not to mention the expense of the wedding celebration. Additionally, court fees needed to be paid in order to register the marriage and have it recognized by the state. The poorest classes in the empire undoubtedly could not afford even the bare minimum of these requirements. In the case of this couple married by Booth, what was more important than official state recognition was that they were married in the eyes of their community in order to maintain societal cohesion. Informally, what mattered was that these two were married by a recognized religious authority witnessed by the community in order for it to be considered legitimate according to local custom. Zilfi, “Marriage Practices: Ottoman Empire.”

[49] The word selam or salaam means “peace” and is used as a greeting throughout the Islamic world.

[50] The izar is a one-piece garment that covers the woman’s body.

[51] That is, money deposited by the bridegroom that he would forfeit if the terms of the agreement were not met.

[52] Melva Emrazian claims it was a “Relief Society Homemaking in Aleppo during the mid-1920s,” but it probably is the needleworkers mentioned here by Booth. She identifies the workers from left to right: Rebecca Hindoian, Mary Hindoian, Luisa Bezjian Ouzounian, Rupsema Tutlian, Maria Kashukjian, Yesther Kashukjian, Arshalus Kashukjian.

[53] In Armenian tradition the bride’s family offered a dowry that could include money, livestock, or even services. Joseph Vosbikian explains that the dowry was not “as much a tribute as a means of better establishing their daughter’s future. Upon marriage, the bride became a part of her husband’s family and the dowry was her parents’ way of easing her into her strange, new life” (“Old-Country Wedding Customs Revisited”). See Villa and Matossian, Armenian Village Life, 71–90.

[54] Translation: “engaged to be married.” Nishan literally means a sign or mark, in this instance meaning that the exchange of rings is the sign of engagement.

[55] Lamanites, a dark-skinned people in the Book of Mormon, are descendants of the wicked sons of Lehi (Laman and Lemuel) and enemies of the descendants of the righteous sons of Lehi (Nephi, Sam, Jacob, and Joseph) known as the Nephites. According to the Book of Mormon, the Lamanites were known at times for their wickedness, savagery, indolence, and idolatry, whereas the Nephites were generally considered a chosen people of God. Sometimes in the Book of Mormon narrative, however, the roles became reversed. Nephites and Lamanites warred often against each other and kept themselves mostly separate as distinct peoples. The “howl and yell” that Booth considers “savage” no doubt included the Middle Eastern custom of zagarid, the uniquely shrill, trilling cries of joy uttered by women during celebrations.

[56] Excerpts in this section come from Booth Journals, vol. 8.

[57] Title of respect for Turkish men.

[58] Booth writes of the birth of Elisa Uzunian more than twenty years later in “Our Sunday School in Syria,” 419.

[59] Translation: “Maybe sixty kurush; a midwife is about half a mejidiye.”